Film History of the 1920s Film History of the 1920s 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s Foundations of the Prolific Film Industry: Films really blossomed in the 1920s, expanding upon the foundations of film from earlier years. Most US film production at the start of the decade occurred in or near Hollywood on the West Coast, although some films were still being made in New Jersey and in Astoria on Long Island (Paramount). By the mid-20s, movies were big business (with a capital investment totaling over $2 billion) with some theatres offering double features. By the end of the decade, there were 20 Hollywood studios, and the demand for films was greater than ever. Most people are unaware that the greatest output of feature films in the US occurred in the 1920s and 1930s (averaging about 800 film releases in a year) - nowadays, it is remarkable when production exceeds 500 films in a year.

Throughout most of the decade, silent films were the predominant product of the film industry, having evolved from vaudevillian roots. But the films were becoming bigger (or longer), costlier, and more polished. They were being manufactured, assembly-line style, in Hollywood's 'entertainment factories,' in which production was broken down and organized into its various components (writing, costuming, makeup, directing, etc.). Even the earliest films were organized into genres or types, with instantly-recognizable storylines, settings, costumes, and characters. The major genre emphasis was on swashbucklers, historical extravaganzas, and melodramas, although all kinds of films were being produced throughout the decade. Films varied from sexy melodramas and biblical epics by Cecil B. DeMille, to westerns (such as Cruze's The Covered Wagon (1923)), horror films, gangster/crime films, war films, the first feature documentary or non-fictional narrative film (Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922)), romances, mysteries, and comedies (from the silent comic masters Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd).

The Major Film Studios: The Big Five 1920-1930 was the decade between the end of the Great War and the Depression following the Stock Market Crash. Film theaters and studios were not initially affected in this decade by the Crash in late 1929. The basic patterns and foundations of the film industry (and its economic organization) were established in the 1920s. The studio system was essentially born with long-term contracts for stars, lavish production values, and increasingly rigid control of directors and stars by the studio's production chief and in-house publicity departments. After World War I and into the early 1920s, America was the leading producer of films in the world - using Thomas Ince's "factory system" of production, although the system did limit the creativity of many directors. Production was in the hands of the major studios (that really flourished after 1927 for almost 20 years), and the star system was burgeoning. Originally, in the earliest years of the motion picture industry, production, distribution, and exhibition were separately controlled. When the industry rapidly grew, these functions became integrated under one directorship to maximize profits, something called vertical integration.

There were eight major (and minor) studios (see below) that dominated the industry. They were the ones that had most successfully consolidated and integrated all aspects of a film's development. By 1929, the film-making firms that were to rule and monopolize Hollywood for the next half-century were the giants or the majors, sometimes dubbed The Big Five. They produced more than 90 percent of the fiction films in America and distributed their films both nationally and internationally. Each studio somewhat differentiated its products from other studios. See History of Film Studio Logos . Warner Bros. Pictures was incorporated in 1923 by Polish brothers (Jack, Harry, Albert, and Sam). In 1925, Warner Brothers merged with First National, forming Warner Bros.-First National Pictures. The studio's first principal asset was Rin Tin Tin. It became prominent by 1927 due to its introduction of talkies ( The Jazz Singer (1927) ) and early 30s gangster films . It was known as the "Depression studio." In the 40s, it specialized in Bugs Bunny animations and other cartoons.

1923-1925 1929-1935 2. Adolph Zukor's Famous Players (1912) and Jesse Lasky's Feature Play - merged in 1916 to form Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. It spent $1 million on United Studios' property (on Marathon Street) in 1926. The Famous Players-Lasky Corporation became Paramount studios in 1927, and was officially named Paramount Pictures in 1935. Its greatest silent era stars were Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, and Rudolph Valentino; Golden Age stars included Mae West, W.C. Fields, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and director Cecil B. DeMille. 3. RKO (Radio-Keith-Orpheum) Pictures, evolved from the Mutual Film Corporation (1912), was established in 1928 as a subsidiary of RCA. It was formed by RCA, Keith-Orpheum Theaters, and the FBO Company (Film Booker's Organization) - which was owned by Joseph P. Kennedy (who had already purchased what remained of Mutual). This was the smallest studio of the majors.

It kept financially afloat with top-grossing Astaire-Rogers musicals in the 30s, King Kong (1933) , and Citizen Kane (1941) . At one time, RKO was acquired by eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes. 1929-1955 4. Marcus Loew of Loew's, Inc., was the parent firm of what eventually became Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Metro Pictures Corporation was a production company founded in 1916 by Richard A. Rowland and Louis B. Mayer. In 1918, Mayer left this partnership to start up his own production company in 1918, called Louis B. Mayer Pictures. In 1920, Metro Pictures Corporation (with its already-acquired Goldwyn Pictures Corporation) was purchased by early theater exhibitor Marcus Loew of Loew's Inc. In another acquisition, Loew merged his Metro-Goldwyn production company with Louis B. Mayer Pictures.

So, in summary, MGM, first named Metro-Goldwyn Pictures, was ultimately formed in 1924 from the merger of three US film production companies: Metro Pictures Corporation (1916) Goldwyn Pictures Corporation (1917) Louis B. Mayer Pictures Company (1918) The famous MGM lion roar in the studio's opening logo was first recorded and viewed in a film in 1928. Irving Thalberg (nicknamed the 'boy wonder') was head of production at MGM from 1924 until his death in 1936. Its greatest early successes were The Big Parade (1925) , Broadway Melody (1929), Grand Hotel (1932) , Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) , A Night at the Opera (1935) , The Good Earth (1937), Gone With the Wind (1939) , The Wizard of Oz (1939) , as well as Tarzan films, Tom and Jerry cartoons, and stars such as Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, and Spencer Tracy.

1916-1924 1928-1956 5. Fox Film Corporation/Foundation, was founded in 1912 by NY nickelodeon owner William Fox (originally a garment industry worker). Its first film was Life's Shop Window (1914). In 1935, it became 20th-Century Fox, formed from the merger of two companies: 20th Century Pictures Company (founded in 1933 by Darryl F. Zanuck, the head of production at Warners and Joseph Schenck, brother of Nicholas Schenk, president of Loew's, the parent company of MGM) Fox Film It became most known for Fox Movietone news and then B-westerns; it was also famous for Shirley Temple films in the mid-30s and Betty Grable musicals in the 40s. Pre-1930 1933 1935 The Big-Five studios had vast studios with elaborate sets for film production.

They owned their own film-exhibiting theatres (about 50% of the seating capacity in the US in mostly first-run houses in major cities), as well as production and distribution facilities. They distributed their films to this network of studio-owned, first-run theaters (or movie palaces), mostly in urban areas, which charged high ticket prices and drew huge audiences. They required blind or block bookings of films, whereby theatre owners were required to rent a block of films (often cheaply-made, less-desirable B-pictures) in order for the studio to agree to distribute the one prestige A-level picture that the theatre owner wanted to exhibit. This technique set the terms for a film's release and patterns of exhibition and guaranteed success for the studio's productions. [Monopolistic studio control lasted twenty years until the late 1940s, when a federal decree (in U.S. vs.

Paramount) ordered the studios to divest their theatres, similar to the rulings against the MPPC - the Edison Trust.] The Minor Film Studios: The Little Three Three smaller, minor studios were dubbed The Little Three, because each of them lacked one of the three elements required in vertical integration - owning their own theaters: 1936-1942 "Poverty Row" Studios and Other Independents: Other studios or independents also existed in a shabby area in Hollywood dubbed "Poverty Row" (Sunset Blvd. and Gower Street) where cheap, independent pictures were made with low budgets, stock footage, and second-tier actors. It was the site of Harry and Jack Cohn's new business, the C.B.C. Film Sales Company (later becoming Columbia Pictures). Many of the films of the independents were either horror films, westerns, science-fiction, or thrillers: Disney Studios - specializing in animation; Walt and Roy Disney originally opened their first studio in 1923 in Los Angeles in the back of the Holly-Vermont Realty office, and called it Disney Bros.

Studio; in a few years, they opened a new facility in downtown LA; in the late 30s, they relocated to a 51-acre lot in Burbank, and changed their name to Walt Disney Productions the Monogram Picture Corporation - Rayart Pictures, which had taken over the old Selig Studio in Echo Park in 1924, became Monogram Pictures in 1930; it was founded by W. Ray Johnston to make mostly inexpensive Westerns and series (Charlie Chan, the Bowery Boys, etc.) Selznick International Pictures / David O. Selznick - it was formed in 1935 and headed up by David O. Selznick (previously the head of production at RKO), the son of independent film producer Lewis J. Selznick, the founder of Selznick Pictures Samuel Goldwyn Pictures - headed up by independent film producer Samuel L.

Goldwyn Republic Pictures - founded in 1935 by the merger of smaller 'poverty row' studios: Consolidated Film Industries, Mascot, Monogram and Liberty, and headed by Herbert Yates of Consolidated Extravagant Movie Palaces: The major film studios built luxurious 'picture palaces' that were designed for orchestras to play music to accompany projected films. The 3,300-seat Strand Theater opened in 1914 in New York City, marking the end of the nickelodeon era and the beginning of an age of the luxurious movie palaces. By 1920, there were more than 20,000 movie houses operating in the US. The largest theatre in the world (with over 6,000 seats), the Roxy Theater (dubbed "The Cathedral of the Motion Picture"), opened in New York City in 1927, with a 6,200 seat capacity. It was opened by impresario Samuel Lionel "Roxy" Rothafel at a cost of $10 million.

The first feature film shown at the Roxy Theater was UA's The Love(s) of Sunya (1927) starring Gloria Swanson (she claimed that it was her personal favorite film) and John Boles. [The Roxy was finally closed in 1960.] The Roxy was unchallenged as a showplace until Radio City Music Hall opened five years later. Grauman's Theatres: Impresario Sid Grauman built a number of movie palaces in the Los Angeles area in this time period: the Million Dollar Theater (on S. Broadway in downtown Los Angeles), the first movie palace in Los Angeles, opened in February, 1918 with 2,345 seats, and premiered the William S.

Hart western film The Silent Man (1917) the Egyptian Theatre (on Hollywood Boulevard) opened in 1922 with 1,760 seats; it was the first major movie palace outside of downtown Los Angeles, and noted as having Hollywood's first movie premiere; its opening film was Robin Hood (1922) that starred Douglas Fairbanks; the theatre's creation was inspired by the discovery of King Tut's tomb that same year the now-famous Chinese Theater, with 2,258 seats, opened in Hollywood (on Hollywood Boulevard) in May, 1927 with the premiere of Cecil B. De Mille's King of Kings (1927). Star Imprints at Grauman's: Grauman, dubbed as "Hollywood's Master Showman," established the tradition of having Hollywood stars place their prints in cement in front of the theater to create an instant tourist attraction ever since. (Legend has it that during the theatre's construction, silent screen actress Norma Talmadge accidentally stepped into wet cement and inspired the tradition.

Grauman immortalized his own footprints, and invited Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks to do the same.) Listed below are the first 10 stars, beginning in the spring of 1927, to imprint themselves (with handprints, footprints, or signatures) in the concrete of the Chinese Theatre's forecourt: Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Apr. 30, 1927 Norma Talmadge, May 18, 1927 Norma Shearer, Aug. 1, 1927 Harold Lloyd, Nov. 21, 1927 William S. Hart, Nov. 28, 1927 Tom Mix and Tony (his horse), Dec. 12, 1927 Colleen Moore, Dec 19, 1927 Gloria Swanson, 1927 (specific date unknown) Constance Talmadge, 1927 (specific date unknown) Charlie Chaplin, Jan, 1928 Pickford and Fairbanks: Two of the biggest silent movie stars of the era were Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.

America flocked to the movies to see the Queen of Hollywood, dubbed "America's Sweetheart" and the most popular star of the generation - "Our Mary" Mary Pickford. She had been a child star, and had worked at Biograph as a bit actress in 1909, and only ten years later was one of the most influential figures in Hollywood at Paramount. In 1916, she was the first star to become a millionaire. She was married to another great star, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Their wedding in late March, 1920 was a major cultural event, although it was highly controversial since both of them had to divorce their spouses so they could marry each other. She was presented with a wedding gift - "Pickfair" [the first syllables of their last names], a twenty-two room palatial mansion (former hunting lodge) in the agricultural area of Beverly Hills - marking the start of the movement of stars to lavish homes in the suburbs of W. Hollywood and the making of Hollywood royalty.

[The couple remained married from 1920-1935.] Strangely, Mary Pickford's downfall began after she bobbed her long curly hair, one of moviedom's first fashion trends, in 1928. Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. also became an American legend after switching from light comedies and starring in a series of exciting, costumed swashbuckler and adventure/fantasy films, starting with The Mark of Zorro (1920), soon followed with his expensively-financed, lavish adventure film Robin Hood (1922) with gigantic sets (famous for the scene in which he eluded death from sword-wielding attackers by jumping off a castle balcony and sliding down a 50 ft. curtain), and the first of four versions of the classic Arabian nights tale by director Raoul Walsh, The Thief of Bagdad (1924). This magical film used state of the art, revolutionary visual effects (for its smoke-belching dragon and underwater spider, the flying horse, the famed flying carpet, and magic armies arising from the dust) and displayed legendary production design.

Another first occurred in 1926 - a Hollywood film premiere double-featured two films together: Fairbanks' The Black Pirate (1926) with early two-color Technicolor (and the superstar's most famous stunt of riding down a ship's sail on the point of a knife) and Mary Pickford's melodramatic film Sparrows (1926). Fairbanks scored again at the close of the decade with The Iron Mask (1929). The first and only film that co-featured both stars was a talkie version of The Taming of the Shrew (1929). Pickford's Coquette (1929), her first all-talking film, won her an Academy Award, but she retired prematurely four years later. Other 1920s Box-Office Stars: The top box-office stars in the 1920s included Harold Lloyd, Gloria Swanson, Tom Mix, Norma Talmadge, Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., Colleen Moore, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, Greta Garbo, Lon Chaney, Sr., Clara Bow, and "Little Mary" Pickford.

Hauntingly mysterious and divine, Greta Garbo's first American film was The Torrent (1926), followed quickly by The Temptress (1926). Her first major starring vehicle was as a sultry temptress in torrid, prone love scenes with off-screen lover John Gilbert in Flesh and the Devil (1926). MGM renamed Broadway actress Lucille Le Sueur and christened her "Joan Crawford" in 1925. And Louise Brooks made her debut film in mid-decade with Street of Forgotten Men (1925). Glamorous MGM star Norma Shearer insured her future success as "The First Lady of the Screen" by marrying genius MGM production supervisor Irving Thalberg in 1927. Clara Bow, a red-haired, lower-class Brooklyn girl was subjected to a major publicity campaign by B. P. Schulberg (of Preferred Pictures (1920-1926) and then Paramount's head of production in the late 20s and early 30s).

He promoted his up-and-coming, vivacious future star as his own personal star, after grooming and molding her for her star-making hit film The Plastic Age (1925) as a flirtatious flapper - the "hottest Jazz Baby in Film." Bow was also exceptional in Dancing Mothers (1926) and in her smash hit Mantrap (1926), and was further promoted with teaser campaigns for It (1927). She soon became known as "The It (sex appeal) Girl" (in the high-living age of flappers) after its February 1927 release. She was boosted to Paramount Studios' super-stardom in the late 1920s by more publicity campaigns, fan magazine glamorization, and rumor-spreading. Bow also starred in the epic WWI film Wings (1927), and in 1928 became the highest paid movie star (at $35,000/week).

But by 1933, after years of victimizing exploitation, she had gone into serious decline and retired due to hard-drinking, exhaustion, gambling, emotional problems, a poor choice of roles, the revelation of a heavy working-class Brooklyn accent in the talkies, and a burgeoning weight problem. Lon Chaney, Sr., the "man of a thousand faces," starred in the earliest version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), and then poignantly portrayed the title character of the Paris Opera House in The Phantom of the Opera (1925) in his signature role. The unveiling of the phantom's face, when Christine (Mary Philbin) rips off his mask - was (and still is) a startling sequence. Young screen actress, platinum blonde starlet Jean Harlow was also 'discovered' and soon contracted with aviation millionaire/movie mogul Howard Hughes to replace the female lead in his soon-to-be-released, re-made sound version of Hell's Angels (1930) , another exciting WWI film about British flying aces.

Janet Gaynor: Another famous screen couple, dubbed "America's Lovebirds" or "America's Sweethearts" were romantic film stars Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell who were eventually paired together in twelve films. [The fact that Farrell was homosexual was kept from the public.] Their first film was Seventh Heaven (1927), a classic romantic melodrama. For their work in Seventh Heaven, Janet Gaynor received the first "Best Actress" Academy Award and director Frank Borzage received the first "Best Director" Academy Award. Janet Gaynor was also honored in the same year with an Academy Award for her exquisite acting in German director F. W. Murnau's first American film - the beautiful Fox-produced Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) , often considered the finest silent film ever made by a Hollywood studio. Murnau's succeeding films were The Four Devils (1928) and Our Daily Bread (1930), with his last film the sensual semi-travelogue documentary Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931) shot with documentarist Robert Flaherty.

(A week before Tabu's premiere in early March 1931, Murnau died in a car accident.) Film History of the 1920s 18 Fabulous Photos of Famous Flappers | Mental Floss 18 Fabulous Photos of Famous Flappers Image credit: Like us on Facebook This post was planned long ago as a followup to The Rise of the Flapper , which looked at some of the reasons for the iconic lifestyle many young women adopted in the 1920s. Some famous flappers were role models, either in real life or in the movies or other entertainment venues, and others only became famous later, but all looked wonderful in photographs of the era. Marie Prevost was an actress who spanned the transition from silent films to talkies with ease. She appeared in 121 films between 1915 and 1936, including a half-dozen or so in which she portrayed a flapper. After her mother died in an auto accident in 1926, Prevost began drinking heavily and gained weight, and her career suffered. She went into a cycle of crash dieting and bingeing.

In 1937, Prevost was found in her apartment, dead from heart failure due to malnutrition and alcoholism. She had died a couple of days before, and was only found because the neighbors complained of her dog barking. Barbara Stanwyck made movies for 37 years, but is best remembered today for her TV series The Big Valley in the 1960s and Dynasty II: The Colbys in the 1980s. Her first film role was an uncredited fan dancer in 1927. Stanwyck's roles ranged widely, but she always played a strong woman. In the '20s, she was as cute as a button. Colleen Moore was probably the earliest film actress to be typecast as a flapper. She made thirty movies between 1917 and 1924. Moore was a valuable silent film actress with comedic moves and expression. Her "look" was an example to Jazz Age girls, with her short hair, skinny frame, and devil-may-care attitude. Moore later became known for the fantasy dollhouse she created , which was featured in an earlier post .

Dorothy Parker wrote poetry, short stories, and essays, and was a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of fashionable writers and celebrities who met for lunch and drinks and whose lifestyles influenced the smart set from 1919 to 1929. Coco Chanel had a brief career on stage in the early 20th century, but will always be known for her fashion designs and the line of clothing and perfume that carries her name. By 1920, the French designer had introduced her "chemise," the simple, short, and loose dress that allowed flappers the freedom of movement to dance the night away. Zelda Fitgerald was an author and the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Her lifestyle made her a celebrity outside the literary world, and her husband called her "the first American Flapper." The two were notorious for public partying, and their drunken antics were a staple of society headlines in the 1920s. From 1930 on, Zelda was in and out of mental hospitals for the rest of her life. Gilda Gray was not the first to dance the shimmy, but she made it popular nationwide in the 1920s.

The young saloon singer went to New York to perform in vaudeville and joined the Ziegfeld Follies in 1922. By then Gray was known as the Shimmy Queen, and made several Hollywood movies between 1919 and 1936 . Josephine Baker achieved some fame in New York as a singer, dancer, and comedienne, but when she went to Paris in 1925, she became an international superstar. Baker's performances ranged from striptease to opera, and were acclaimed from all sides. Baker became a French citizen in 1937. Her work with the French Resistance during World War II earned her the Croix de Guerre. Baker was also active in the Civil Rights movement in America. However, during the 1920s, she was just the most exotic, sexy, and talented woman in Europe. Helen Morgan became famous as a nightclub singer in the speakeasies of Chicago during the 1920s. She also had success on the Broadway stage and in film in the 1930s, but alcoholism caught up with her.

Morgan died in 1941 from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 41. Bessie Smith began singing in minstrel shows and cabarets in 1912. She toured with vaudeville jazz shows for two decades, singing the blues, and more importantly for history, recording music. Her last recording session was in 1933; she died in an auto accident in 1937. Clara Bow was called the "It" girl of the '20s because she was so photogenic, every young lady wanted what she had -and she had "it." Her career was fast and furious, with 55 films between 1922 and 1933 and almost as many scandals . Bow retired from movies at age 30, married, and lived a quiet life until her death in 1965. Norma Talmadge was one of the biggest silent film stars ever. Between 1910 and 1930, she acted in 160 films and produced 25! Talmadge was also a smart businesswoman.

She and her much older husband, Joseph Schenck, formed the Norma Talmadge Film Corporation in 1917, giving them control over her work. The corporation generated profits way beyond what a film actress of the time could have made. Edna Purviance was best known as Charlie Chaplin's leading lady. She appeared in 40 films over a dozen years, 33 of them with Chaplin. She was romantically involved with him, but then married another man in 1938. Still, Chaplin kept her on his payroll until her death in 1958. Dorothy Sebastian went from college to musical theater to Hollywood, where she appeared in films for about fifteen years beginning in 1925. She was married three times (once to Hopalong Cassidy), but was known for her long-term affair with Buster Keaton. Anita Page started her career in silent films and made an easy transition to "talkies" soon after. She cranked out many films between 1925 and 1933, and came out of retirement occasionally to act again until her death in 2008.

At that time, she was hailed as the last silent film star . Joan Crawford had a half-century career in film, and many film lovers only recognize her in later roles. But in 1925, she carefully crafted her entertainment persona as a flapper with a campaign of self-promotion . She worked hard for each film role, which led to more roles, until her career snowballed -just as she had planned. Norma Shearer appeared uncredited in the 1920 film The Flapper when she was 18 years old. Between 1920 and 1942, she starred in dozens of films, many under the supervision of MGM executive Irving Thalberg, whom she married in 1927. Anita Loos was an author, screenwriter, and playwright, best known for writing Gentlemen Prefer Blondes , first as a magazine series, then a 1925 book, a 1928 film, a 1949 Broadway musical, and the 1953 film musical starring Marilyn Monroe. The story was inspired by Loos' observations of Jazz Age love and temptation, and featured a flapper as the protagonist.

Classic Movie Actresses ... when they were young “I want to be a big star more than anything. It's something precious.” "The Most Beautiful Woman In Film"1940s “Any girl can be glamorous. All you have to do is stand still and look stupid.” Liz1950s “I've only slept with the men I've been married to. How many women can make that claim?” #4: Audrey Hepburn 1950s sweetheart1950s “I don't have sex appeal and I know it. As a matter of fact, I think I'm rather funny looking.

My teeth are funny, for one thing, and I have none of the attributes usually required for a movie queen, including the shapeliness.” “I dated dozens of young men, had fun with all, made commitments to none.” #10: Rita Hayworth "The Love Goddess"1940s “I think all women have a certain elegance about them which is destroyed when they take off their clothes.” #11: Carole Lombard The Profane Angel, The Hoosier Tornado1930s “I've lived by a man's code designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.” #12: Sophia Loren 1950s movie star1950s “Many people think they want things, but they don't really have the strength, the discipline. They are weak.

I believe that you get what you want if you want it badly enough.” #13: Louise Brooks "LuLu" or "Brooksie"1920s “Love is a publicity stunt, and making love - after the first curious raptures - is only another petulant way to pass the time waiting for the studio to call.” #14: Brigitte Bardot "B.B."1950s “I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals.” #15: Natalie Wood Natasha 1950s “You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady.” #16: Loretta Young Attila the Nun, Saint Loretta1930s “A face that is really lovely in repose can fall apart if, when its owner starts to talk, she distorts every feature.” #17: Lana Turner Sweater Girl1940s “A successful man is one who makes more money than a wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.” “The legs aren't so beautiful. I just know what to do with them.” #19: Ingrid Bergman 1940s iconic actress1940s “I can do everything with ease on the stage, whereas in real life I feel too big and clumsy. So I didn't choose acting. It chose me.” #20: Clara Bow The "It" Girl1920s “We had individuality. We did as we pleased. We stayed up late. We dressed the way we wanted.” #21: Jane Russell 1950s movie star1950s “Sometimes the photographers would pose me in a low-necked nightgown and tell me to bend down and pick up the pails.

They were not shooting the pails.” Clara Bow - Biography - IMDb Clara Bow Biography Showing all 54 items Jump to: Overview (5) | Mini Bio (3) | Spouse (1) | Trivia (30) | Personal Quotes (10) | Salary (5) Overview (5) 5' 3½" (1.61 m) Mini Bio (3) Clara Gordon Bow, destined to become THE flapper of the 1920's, was born and raised in poverty in Brooklyn, New York, on July 29, 1905. Her family was also beset with violence. Her mother tried to slit Clara's throat when she attempted to enter the film industry. She won a photo beauty contest which launched her movie career that would eventually number 58 films, from 1922 to 1933. It was the movie It (1927), which was to define her career. The film starred Clara as a shop girl who was asked out by the store's owner. As you watch the silent film you can see the excitement as she prepared for her date with the boss, her girlfriend trying hard to assist her.

She was trying to use a pair of scissors to modify her dress in order to look more "sexy". This movie did a lot to change society's mores as there was only a few years between World War I and Clara Bow, but this movie went a long way in how society looked at itself. Clara was flaming youth in rebellion. In the film she was presenting a worldly wisdom that somehow sex meant having a good time. But you shouldn't be misled by the film, because she was still close to Lillian Gish in that when her boss tries to kiss her goodnight, she slaps him. Yes, she, too, was a good girl and a first cousin of Trueheart Susie. At the height of her popularity she received over 45,000 fan letters a month. She, too, was probably the most overworked and underpaid star in the industry. With the coming of sound, which did lend itself to her thick Brooklyn accent, her popularity waned. Clara was also involved in several court battles ranging from unpaid taxes to being in divorce court for "stealing" women's husbands. After the court trials, she made a couple of attempts to get back in the public eye.

One was Call Her Savage (1932) in 1932. It was somewhat of a failure at the box office and her last was in 1933 in a film called Hoop-La (1933). She, then, married cowboy star, Rex Bell at the age of 26 and retired from the film world at the age of 28. She was a doting mother of her two sons and would do anything to please them. Haunted by a weight problem, and a mental imbalance, she never entered show business again. Clara was confined to a sanitarium from time to time and was not allowed access to her loving sons she adored very much. She died of a heart attack in West Los Angeles, on September 26, 1965. She was 60 years old. Today she is finding a renaissance among movie buffs, who are recently discovering the virtues of silent film. The actress who wanted so much to be like the wonderful young lady in It (1927) has the legacy of her films to confirm what a wonderful lady she really was. She, too, was America's first sex symbol.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Herman Seifer <alagain@aol.com> Clara Bow was born in a run-down tenement in old Brooklyn, to a schizophrenic Mother and a chronically destitute, physically abusive father. As a child, she was a tomboy and played games in the streets with the boys; since her clothes were so ragged and dirty other girl children wouldn't play with her. Her best friend Johnny burned to death in her arms when she was 10 years old. Years later, she could make herself cry at will on a movie set by listening to the lullaby "Rock-A-Bye Baby". She claimed it reminded her of her small friend. She also told reporters simple, brutal, honest stories about her horrific childhood, which was a big no-no in her day. Mental illness in the family was considered more shameful than unmarried pregnancy. This made Clara a lot of enemies in Hollywood. She entered "The Fame and Fortune Contest" as a teenager. Girls from all over the country competed, and the 1st Prize was a part in a movie. She showed up in her ragged clothes and the other girls smirked at her.

The contest judges paid no attention to her until she did her screen test - and then they unanimously chose her over all the other girls. Clara lit up the screen like nothing they had ever seen. She got the part, but it was later cut from the movie. During this time her mother tried to kill her and was institutionalized, where she died shortly after. She was taken to Hollywood by B.P. Schulberg , who used Clara sexually and financially. He worked her like a horse and paid her very little compared to other stars of the day. Even so, the talented Clara became a superstar, and the first ever Hollywood sex symbol. Clara could flirt with the camera just by looking into it with her big brown eyes and mischievous bow-tie grin. She exuded sex appeal from every pore in her little body and was not afraid to flaunt it. She personified "flaming youth in rebellion". Her characters were always working class gals; manicurists, showgirls and the like. Her movies did a lot to emancipate young Americans from the restrictive Victorian morals their parents had been raised with. Clara's characters were unashamed about being attracted to men and went after them with gusto.

Her shop girl in It (1927) sees the bosses son one day, and says "Oh Santa, gimme him!" She knows exactly what to do to get him interested and then keeps him on his toes. Her characters cut their dresses up to look sexier, cut off their hair, drank and smoked in public, and danced all night long. At the height of her career, she received 45,000 fan letters a week, a record that has never been equaled. She was the idol of working girls and the dream of working class guys everywhere. Even though the public adored Clara, Hollywood shunned her. Most of Hollywood's big names of the 1920s had come from poor backgrounds like Clara, but when they made it big they tended to develop upper class values and personas. They pretended their poor childhoods had never happened. Clara didn't. Clara never hid anything; that was her problem. It was later discovered by a biographer that Clara was actually schizophrenic, like her mother. One of the hallmark signs of schizophrenia is a total unconcern with social mores.

Clara loved to tell really dirty jokes at parties when the conversation lulled, or make blatant remarks about the size of her (many) lovers to other, more prudish girls. She had very public affairs (her euphemism was "engagements") with a score of leading men and directors, including Victor Fleming , Gary Cooper , and Gilbert Roland . This behavior horrified her peers, and eventually she was driven out of Hollywood. Many nasty rumors about her sexuality floated around the movie colony, including the one about her taking on the entire USC Football Team one night, which was finally disproved by a biographer, David Stenn. The coming of sound was like an earthquake to Hollywood. It shook up everything. Her fans probably wouldn't have minded her blue collar Brooklyn accent, since most of them were working class gals themselves, but Clara got herself so worked up with mike fright she had breakdowns during her first talkies. Before she could recover from this, she ended up in court with her private life splashed all over the papers, which didn't help matters one bit. Her secretary and best friend, Daisy De Voe, was caught embezzling from her.

When Clara took Daisy to court, Daisy told the court and press uncensored details of Clara's sex life, along with lots of exaggeration, which the press automatically printed and believed. The scandal ruined Clara. She had another more serious breakdown and had to recover in a sanatorium. Soon after she retired for good, and moved to Nevada with her new husband, the cowboy actor Rex Bell. She raised two sons, all the while battling her mental illness, and died in obscurity in 1965. - IMDb Mini Biography By: redmaeve@fastmail.fm Spouse (1) ( 3 December 1931 - 4 July 1962) (his death) (2 children) Trivia (30) Before she was known as "The It Girl", she was known as "The Brooklyn Bonfire". Sons Rex Bell Jr. (b. 1934) and George Robert (b. 1938). Born at 4:45pm-EST Unlike many movie stars of her era she did not flaunt her wealth, but lived on par with the middle class. She lived in a seven-room bungalow at 512 N. Bedford Dr. in Beverly Hills.

Interred at Forest Lawn, Glendale, CA, in the Freedom Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Heritage, next to George Burns and Gracie Allen . She worked at a hot dog stand on Coney Island as a teenager, run by a man named Nathan Handwerker, who later founded Nathan's Franks. However, contrary to legend, she was not discovered there. Mother of actor Rex Bell Jr. Her mother was mentally ill and was committed to a mental institution where she died when Clara was still relatively young. WAMPAS Baby Star of 1924. Refused to write her memoirs on the grounds there were many things that might embarrass her two sons and their families. She felt all the money in the world would not compensate for the embarrassment. The stories about her being a rather loose and unrestrained free spirit earned her a somewhat notorious reputation that would follow her for the rest of her life. Many legends and rumors grew up around her, thanks in large part to the tabloid press. After her death there were rumors that she had faked her death, and some had reported seeing her visiting her own grave.

Kristin Hersh wrote a song about her for the band 50 Foot Wave entitled "Clara Bow." It appears on the band's debut album "Golden Ocean". Was billed as "The Hottest Jazz Baby in Films" by independent producer B.P. Schulberg for The Plastic Age (1925). Hollywood's first It-girl Clara applied her red lipstick in the shape of a heart. Women who imitated this shape were said to be putting a "Clara Bow" on their mouths. Preferred playing poker with her cook, maid, and chauffeur over attending her movie premieres. Became a lifelong insomniac after her mother tried to kill her in her sleep. Fellow actress Jeanine Louise DeName was born and raised in a neighborhood that Clara had briefly resided in as a youth, in Brooklyn, NY. 1928: She became the highest paid movie star, receiving $35,000 per week. 1949: After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, her regimen included shock treatments. Later in her life her husband sent her to one of the top mental institutions in the nation.

1994: She was honored with an image on a United States postage stamp designed by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld . As soon as Bow started to make money, she brought her father to live with her in Hollywood. For the next few years, she funded numerous business ventures for him, including a restaurant and a dry cleaners, all of which failed. He soon became a drunken nuisance on her sets, where he would try to pick up young girls by telling them his daughter was Clara Bow. Her mother, Sarah Gordon, was an occasional prostitute who suffered from mental illness and epilepsy. She was noted for her frequent public affairs with local firemen. Her father, Robert Bow, was rarely present and may have had a mental impairment. Whenever he returned home, he was verbally and physically abusive to both wife and daughter. Reportedly he raped Clara when she was 15 or 16 years old. Had a turbulent love affair with actor Bela Lugosi (who had yet to deliver his legendary screen performance in Dracula (1931)) in the late '20s. Lugosi had a nude portrait of Bow hanging in the bedroom of his small Hollywood apartment for the rest of his life.

She had a rare singing role (sang "I'm True To The Navy") in Paramount on Parade (1930). Was considered for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Prince refers to her in his song "Condition of the Heart". The line goes, "There was a woman from the ghetto who made funny faces just like Clara Bow". Personal Quotes (10) The more I see of men, the more I like dogs. [on director Victor Fleming ] Of all the men I've known, there was a man. [when asked what "It" was, replying in her perfect Brooklyn accent] I ain't real sure. A sex symbol is a heavy load to carry when one is tired, hurt and bewildered. We had individuality. We did as we pleased. We stayed up late. We dressed the way we wanted. I used to whiz down Sunset Boulevard in my open Kissel, with several red Chow dogs to match my hair. Today, they're sensible and end up with better health. But we had more fun. When I decided to leave the screen, I told Ben Schulberg [producer B.P.

Schulberg ] I would not finish my contract or ever work again for anyone. He yelled and threatened to sue me and I said, "Go ahead, Ben, sue me. I've fought a thief and a blackmailer and, if after such heartaches I am forced to fight you and the studio, so be it". People used to say that I had a feeling of closeness, a great warmth of loving everybody, that they could tell me their troubles. [on the death of her grandfather when she was five] The first night, as he lay in his coffin in the dining room, I crept out of my bed and lay down on the floor beside him because I had the feeling that he might be lonely. My father found me there in the morning, almost frozen. I said, 'Hush, you mustn't wake grandfather. He's sleeping.' [on her poverty-stricken childhood in Brooklyn] No one wanted me in the first place. Often I was lonesome, frightened and miserable. I never had a doll in my life. I never had any clothes, and lots of times didn't have anything to eat. We just lived, and that'a about all.

Girls shunned me because I was so poorly dressed - the worst looking kid on the street. I decided that girls weren't any good, and being lonely and needing child friends, cast my lot with the neighborhood boys. I became a regular tomboy - played baseball, football and learned to box. [asked for her thoughts on Marilyn Monroe after Monroe's death] A sex symbol is a heavy load to carry when one is tired, hurt and bewildered. Salary (5)

Question: Which film actress of the 1920's was known as the "It" Girl"?
Answer: Clara Bow